1. Field
An air conditioner is disclosed herein.
2. Background
An air conditioner is an appliance that maintains air in a predetermined space in a condition most suitable for an intended application or objective. A typical air conditioner includes a compressor, a condenser, an expansion unit or device, and an evaporator, and is able to cool or heat a predetermined space by forward or reverse operation or circulation of a refrigerating cycle including compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation of a refrigerant.
The predetermined space may refer to various spaces in which the air conditioner may be used or utilized. By way of example, when the air conditioner is installed or provided in a home or office, the predetermined space may refer to an indoor space or room in a house or building. When the air conditioner is installed or provided in a vehicle, the predetermined space may refer to a vehicle interior or passenger compartment which accommodates passengers.
When the air conditioner is operated in a cooling operation, an outdoor heat exchanger, which may be provided outside of an indoor space or room, may serve as a condenser, and an indoor heat exchanger, which may be provided inside of the indoor space or the room, may serve as an evaporator. In contrast, when the air conditioner is operated in a heating operation, the indoor heat exchanger may serve as a condenser, and the outdoor heat exchanger may serve as an evaporator.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional air conditioner. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional air conditioner 10 includes a compressor 13, an indoor heat exchanger 11, an expansion valve 15, and an outdoor heat exchanger 12. In this embodiment, symbol “I” designates the indoors, and symbol “O” designates the outdoors. The indoor heat exchanger 11 may be provided with an indoor fan 16, and the outdoor heat exchanger may be provided with an outdoor fan 17.
The air conditioner 10 may include a channel diverting valve 14, which is adapted to change a direction in which refrigerant circulates for conversion between a cooling cycle and a heating cycle. In this case, the channel diverting valve 14 may be a four-way valve.
The air conditioner 10 may further include an oil separator (not shown) to return oil, which is discharged together with refrigerant from the compressor 13, to the compressor 13, and an oil separator to prevent liquid-phase refrigerant from flowing into the compressor 13 by separating refrigerant which is not evaporated in the evaporator.
When the conventional air conditioner is operated in a cooling operation, the compressor 13 is operated at a low speed. When the compressor 13 is operated at a low speed, there is a problem whereby a compression efficiency of the compressor 13 is decreased.